Outdoor pursuits
One small step for man...
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The packs that the
students carry when climbing the mountain are not light! |
An integral
part of ISM school life is what is commonly known as the O.P programme. The O.P
or Outdoor Pursuits programme gives the students first hand experience of the
natural beauty of the Tanzanian scenery. However, this depends upon your
perspective! Would you rather enjoy standing at the bottom of the mountain
looking up at it or standing at the top of the mountain looking down on the rest
of the world?
This
programme allows the students to tackle this thought provoking, soul searching
question! Every student who enters the secondary school is given the
opportunity to climb on the slopes of either Mount Meru or Mount Kilimanjaro.
O.P trips
are run throughout the months of November, March, April and May. Part of the
O.P philosophy is the school=s
graduation policy. Here the mountains are graded into levels in terms of
difficulty of route, altitude and duration of walk. There are 5 levels in all,
with Level 1 being two days/one night to either Mandara Hut or Mirakimba Hut and
Level 5 being to Uhuru Peak.
A fundamental
part of the programme is that the students have to carry their own packs and
have to be self sufficient on the mountains. Every year ISM has many students
who successfully complete the programme and reach the summit of Africa, in fact
many of them have completed the summit on several occasions.
As you can
see from the photo, the packs that the students carry are not light! On this
particular trip, a Level 4, the students had to carry tents as well. The route
selected was the Rongai route which starts on the Kenyan facing side of the
mountain. The duration of the trip was 3 nights and 4 days, with some extremely
long days of walking. In total 20 students and 4 staff members from both
campuses attended the trip. The weather conditions were fine offering
spectacular views of both Mawenzi and Kibo. Not all of these trips are
considered hard, and fun can indeed be had on the mountain. Just either ask a
student or a member of staff and they shall give you a truthful answer!
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